


islands

by TheYoungPilgrim



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, POV Dina (The Last of Us), POV Ellie (The Last of Us), Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27200326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheYoungPilgrim/pseuds/TheYoungPilgrim
Summary: Just a coffee shop AU I haven't been able to get out of my head.
Relationships: Cat/Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Jesse (The Last of Us)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1

Ellie was awake long before she could bring herself to open her eyes. She could feel the edges of the morning sun creeping in anyway, inciting the pounding in her head. She scrunched her eyes closed ever tighter and tilted her head as far away from the light as she could, only stopping when her cheek finally bumped against the woman nestled into her side. The woman’s limbs were tangled messily with hers, one leg was thrown over both of Ellie’s, the other was wedged between her and the bed, an arm wrapped around Ellie’s waist tugging her into a tight embrace. 

She squeezed tighter into her, allowing herself to be engulfed in the warmth. Ellie rotated, turning her body toward the smaller woman, and pressed a quick kiss to her temple. She could still taste the salt left on her skin from last night. She breathed her in, the smell of sandalwood and alcohol bringing a smile to her lips. Ellie laid there, uncertain of the time, for longer than she’d care to admit, willing her throbbing head to at least settle into a dull ache before she had to try to start the day.

Her meditation, _if you could call it that,_ was abruptly interrupted by the sounding of her own alarm clock. Ellie’s hand jerked outward, reaching back to grab the phone from the nightstand to silence it as quickly as possible. Ellie’s eyes shot over to the girl next to her, checking to see if the noise or movement had stirred her. With no signs of movement, _typical,_ Ellie tossed her phone vaguely back in the direction of the nightstand and let out a deep sigh, rubbing her temples trying to settle the reemerging headache. 

_Going to be a long day._

She turned back, looking down at the smaller woman still wrapped around her, before pressing a long kiss to the top of her head. Ellie pulled back and ran her fingers through the dark hair splayed across the pillow, she smiled at the little noises escaping sleeping lips, and pressed another quick kiss to her cheek.

Ellie slowly untangled herself from the smaller woman, doing her best not to disturb her, even though she knew she wasn’t going to wake up until she wanted to anyway. _Lucky bitch,_ Ellie thought as she pulled the blankets back up to recover her girlfriend. She turned to the dresser and quickly searched through the pile on top of it, grabbing the first pair of pants and shirt she touched before making her way to the bathroom. Ellie was determined to let a shower wash away the rest of her hangover.

As she waited for the water to warm up, she flipped through the messages on her phone. Nothing too crazy. A few texts from Abby and the work gang with photos of them all doing too many shots together, _no wonder I feel like shit._ She was comforted by the fact that she at least wouldn't be alone in her hangover at work today. 

Ellie ran her hand under the water of the shower checking the temperature, satisfied she stripped down and hopped in underneath the warm water. The heat enveloped her and she immediately felt better. She let the water crash over her and ran her hands through her hair. She wasn’t looking forward to a full day of work. Weekday mornings were the worst at the coffee shop, she didn’t know why she agreed to go out last night, _because she begged you with those eyes, that’s why_ , but she knew she regretted it now. _I swear I won’t go out on a work night again,_ she lied to herself.

A while later, having hidden underneath the warm water for entirely too long, Ellie turned the water off and wrapped herself in a large fluffy towel. She dried off in the bathroom before throwing on the clothes she grabbed earlier, hoping they were clean enough to wear to work. She eyed herself in the mirror, not seeing any noticeable stains on her dark henley or jeans she gave herself a small shrug. _Good enough._

Ellie stepped out of the bathroom and rounded the corner to peer into the bedroom only to find the bed was surprisingly empty. She turned back around and walked down the short apartment hallway, the smell of bacon leading her nose straight to the kitchen. She smiled at the sight of the smaller woman swaying to the music quietly playing as she stood over the stove, a careful eye over whatever she was cooking. She hadn’t really dressed, Ellie could just see the edge of her small panties, much of her body being covered by one of Ellie’s flannels. 

_Way too big for her,_ Ellie smiled, quickly crossing the space to her. She wrapped her arms around the smaller woman’s waist and pressed her lips to her neck. Her girlfriend leaned back into Ellie’s arms, settling into the embrace. One hand on around a rubber spatula, one reaching up to grab Ellie’s jaw to pull her lips closer. They relaxed into each other and swayed lightly, sharing a sweet kiss. 

Ellie pulled away slightly, her girlfriend ducked in for one more quick kiss before allowing Ellie to step back. “Whatcha makin’, babe?” Ellie leaned against the counter next to her and caught her eye, one hand settling loosely on her girlfriend’s waist.

“Just some scrambled eggs. Bacon’s in the oven too.” She replied, grinning as Ellie leaned over to kiss her once more.

“Fucking _sweet_. You know you’re a lifesaver right?” 

“You’d be lost without me.” 

Ellie laughed, nodding along begrudgingly. She shifted to look directly at her, “I am completely shocked to see you awake at this hour. And so productive to boot,” Ellie raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“Well when I woke up the bed was awful cold,” She smiled sweetly. _Too sweetly._ “That, and I just thought I’d ambush you before you come home all grumpy from work.” The sweet smiling turned into a smirk.

“Cat...” Ellie warned, pulling her arm away from her waist.

“Listen,” Ellie leaned further away as she spoke, “Babe, I just wanted to _very_ ” she over emphasized catching Ellie’s eyes and placing a steady hand on her shoulder, “ _casually_ mention that there is going to be an open mic night -”

Ellie tried to pull away from Cat’s reach, shaking her head as she stood back. Cat held her tighter, not letting Ellie break eye contact.

“ - and I think you should do it.” Cat rushed, finally pulling her arm back from Ellie’s shoulder. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Ellie a pointed look.

Ellie sighed with a slight shake of her head. “Cat, you know -” Ellie started

“Just think about it?” Cat interrupted, her eyes pleading.

Ellie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _Those damn eyes._

“Fine.” Ellie rolled her eyes. “I will _think_ about it.” She crossed her arms over her chest, mirroring Cat’s position. “I make _literally_ _zero_ promises.” She glared. Not wavering. 

The corner of Cat’s lips pulled up into a smirk. She uncrossed her arms and leaned in to kiss the corner of Ellie’s lips, smiling contentedly. “Good enough for me.” She pulled back and looked into her eyes, “Thank you,” she said sincerely, both hands on Ellie’s shoulders, forcing her to meet Cat’s eyes.

Ellie smiled at her briefly before looking down and staring absentmindedly at the pan on the oven. She worried at her lip for a moment. Cat squeezed her shoulders knowingly.

Ellie looked back up. “Just don’t hold your breath.” She replied with a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

* * *

Ellie arrived at work through the side door of the coffee shop. She pulled on her apron as she stepped in. She nodded a tight smile to the day shift manager at his desk in the office as she walked past. _Asshole._ She saw a glimpse of Abby quickly rounding the corner to the bathroom as she punched in on the small computer in the back.

A few seconds later, the sounds of Abby retching in the bathroom echoed their way throughout the back of the shop. The manager stuck his head out of the office and glared down the hallway in the direction of the sounds. As soon as he made eye contact with Ellie, he shooed her towards the bathroom with his hands, a disgusted look on his face.

Eye glared at him for a moment before she turned away with a shake of her head and an eyeroll, heading down the hall toward the bathroom. _Lazy asshole._

She knocked lightly on the door.

_"Fuck off_ ” came the irritated voice on the other side of the door.

“So sweet,” Ellie joked, ignoring her and pushing the door open.

Abby was hunched over the toilet, her knees folded on the ground and her face leaning against the toilet seat. 

_That can’t be sanitary._ “Rough night, huh?” Ellie asked with a smirk.

Abby looked over her shoulder at Ellie and groaned, “Oh fuck you.” 

“Abby. Stop flirting.” Ellie quipped.

Abby looked like she had something to say before she suddenly turned pale again and turned back towards the toilet, somehow still having more to throw up. Ellie’s nose scrunched up in disgust, but she stepped forward to place a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Ellie took a step back as Abby leaned away from the toilet. She watched Abby wipe her mouth roughly with the back of her hand before reaching over to flush the toilet in front of her. Abby shuffled back, adjusting to lean her back against the sink by the toilet. 

She looked up at Ellie, regret painted on her face. “You’re lucky you left when you did.” Abby shook her head carefully, clearly not trying to start up another episode.

“Oh really? I saw some pretty gnarly photos of us all." Ellie laughed. "How much worse did it get?”

“So much fucking worse.” Abby half-laughed, half-groaned. “We were _celebrating_.”

Ellie didn’t miss the air quotes or pointed tone. “Oh yeah? How come?” She questioned, reaching her hand out to help Abby up. 

Abby rolled her eyes again and swatted away Ellie’s hand, instead quickly popping up on her own. She turned toward the sink to rinse her mouth and met Ellie’s eyes in the mirror.

“Mel got into Pittsburgh’s med school program.” Abby deadpanned. “Owen was so _fucking_ excited.” Her voice dripped with fake enthusiasm. 

“That doesn’t mean -” Ellie started.

“Don’t.” Abby ended. “It’s fine. We just _celebrated_ too much after.” Abby shook her head. “Way too much.”

Ellie leaned forward and set her hand on her friend’s shoulder reassuringly. “Owen gets excited about everything. He’s like a fucking puppy. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yeah maybe.” Abby shrugged. She pushed away from the sink, heading out of the room. “C’mon, plenty of customers to satisfy!” She enthused sarcastically.

Ellie took a deep breath and followed after her.

There was a reason Ellie hated weekday mornings at work. The customers who said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, the ones who offered a sympathetic smile, they were few and far between. Most every person she came across arrived half asleep and in a bad mood, terrible at communicating what they wanted and angry at the smallest inconvenience. _You’d think they’d be kinder to the person delivering the fix for their caffeine withdrawal._

Ellie never understood the fixation with coffee. It tasted like hot shit until you dumped an excessive amount of sugar and cream into it, at that point the sugar was probably revving you up more than the caffeine. _Acquired taste my ass._ Ellie knew it was strange that she worked at a coffee shop having no real desire to drink the stuff herself, but the pastries were delicious and the smell always reminded her of her mornings with Joel. _That man would trade his soul for a bag of beans._ She smiled to herself.

“Could you move _any_ faster?” An irritated voice called from the other side of the counter, dragging Ellie from her thoughts.

Ellie rolled her eyes before turning around, plastering her fakest smile on her face in preparation to deal with yet another entitled douchebag. 

“I mean how fucking hard is it to make a damn coffee?” He shouted as soon as Ellie turned around.

_Oh so that’s how it’s going to be? Dick._

“Dick.” Came a voice. Ellie paused for a second, worried she may have been thinking out loud. She cautiously eyed the uptight asshole, expecting to see him glaring at her. Instead he had turned around partially, his stare clearing aimed at someone behind him. Ellie could only see part of his face, but she was happy she could see the obvious look of shock on him.

“What the _fuck_ did you say to me?” He spat out.

Ellie sat the latte she was working on down and quickly turned to the counter. She took a few steps forward, ready to intervene. The dickhead had jabbed his finger in the direction of a short, dark-haired woman.

The woman eyed him back and shrugged, a smirk on her face, “I called you a dick.”

Ellie smiled reflexively at the smaller woman’s attitude before quickly her face back into her neutral customer service expression. She began to stride forward, intent on quickly breaking up the altercation, but suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder stopping her in her tracks.

“Finish that,” Abby gestured toward the half-done latte Ellie had just sat down. “You take the next one.” She finished with a smile, stepping toward the front counter.

“Excuse me sir,” Abby called out in an almost unrecognizably sweet voice, quickly getting the asshole customer’s attention, “What can I get for you today.”

The man stared at the dark-haired woman for another moment, seemingly weighing his options, before huffing and turning abruptly back to the counter. He signed deeply and mumbled, “ _fucking finally_ ” to no one in particular.

Satisfied Abby had a handle on things, Ellie tuned out the rest of the interaction as she went about finishing up the order in front of her. When she looked over, Abby and the douchebag were at the other end of the counter. Abby was pouring him the hour old drip coffee instead of the fresh batch. Ellie snorted to herself.

“What’s so funny?” The voice asked from behind her.

Ellie turned all the way around then, catching the eye of the smaller woman waiting on the other side of the counter. She was a bit surprised she didn’t recognize her, the woman was clearly part of the pre-work coffee crowd. She was dressed professionally in a loose white button down tucked into a pair of dark, high-waisted slacks. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a few loose strands on each side curling around her ears. 

Ellie smiled and laughed to herself as she walked up to the counter. “Oh just a bit of revenge. Sometimes it’s best served lukewarm.” She nodded towards the other end of the counter where Abby & the asshole stood.

The dark-haired woman tilted her head to the side, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion for a moment. Ellie watched as realization quickly settled in on the short woman’s face, she laughed, throwing her head back slightly. 

_Oh she’s cute._ Ellie thought as she traced the outline of her laugh with her eyes before quickly shaking her head.

The smaller smiled mischievously, “I’m glad he’s getting what he deserves.” She leaned in and whispered in a mock- conspiratorial tone as she met Ellie’s eyes.

Ellie held her gaze, green eyes meeting warm brown eyes, “Oh trust me, he is. Abby over there never lets ‘em off easy.” She smirked back.

“Good to know. I’ll have to make sure I always get you when I come here.” The woman smiled, eyes watching Ellie dangerously.

Ellie looked away and brought her hand to the back of her neck and rubbed it soothingly as she kicked at the ground in front of her. Heat rising uncomfortably to her face.

“I’m not much better, I’m afraid.” Ellie laughed, meeting her eyes again.

“Shame.” She deadpanned. “Either way, I’m just glad I got to tell some asshole off. Really gets the endorphins pumping in the morning.” 

“Well if that’s the case we ought to have you around more often.” Ellie replied, matching the dark-haired woman’s smirk.

“So,” she leaned back, her hands holding on to the edge of the counter as she scanned the chalkboard menu above them, “what’s good here?” She asked with her eyes settling on Ellie.

Ellie crossed her arms nervously, “Well, uh, the Earl Grey’s pretty good.” Ellie looked up, pretending to scan the menu for more options.

“The tea is pretty good at your coffee shop?” The woman asked leaning forward, resting her elbows on the counter, her eyebrows raised and a playful smile on her lips.

“I mean, uh, yeah?” Ellie offered, rubbing that spot on the back of her neck. “I’m not a big fan of coffee to be honest.” She looked down at the smaller woman, shrugging in embarrassment.  
  
The woman snorted. “I guess an Earl Grey then.” She said with a shake of her head, one corner of her lips raised, not pressing the coffee issue any further.

Ellie smiled, a faint blush settling on her cheeks, she nodded as she keyed the information into the system in front of her. “What’s your name?” She looked up, meeting those warm brown eyes again.

“Dina.”

Ellie smiled as she carefully penned the name across the paper cup in her hand.

_Dina._


	2. Chapter 2

Dina woke promptly at 7am to the sound of her alarm clock ringing out on the nightstand next to her. Her hand hovered over the snooze button for a moment before she groaned and decided on ‘dismiss’ instead of ‘snooze’. She rolled over to lay on her back, sparing a glance to the side to the rumpled sheets beside her. _Up already. Of course._ Dina threw her arm over her head, blocking out the sunlight with her forearm, and took a deep breath.

She sat up slowly and leaned against the headboard, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms. The light from the living room was creeping in underneath the bedroom doorway. She could hear a whispered voice down the hall, but couldn’t make out the words. She stood up and stretched, trying to shake the sleep off her bones. She moved to the dresser and grabbed a pair of cozy sweatpants, throwing them on over her bare legs before making her way out of the room.

Dina ambled down the hallway toward the living room. She could hear the voice growing louder as she moved. She turned the corner and saw Jesse pacing on their balcony, excitement rolling off him in waves.

“No really, sir, thank you so much for the opportunity. Yes, yes I will. I look forward to seeing you as well. Thank you again.” Jesse slammed the phone shut before throwing his fists in the air and _trying_ to cheer quietly to himself.

After pumping his fists in the air, he turned around and immediately locked eyes with Dina. His lips curled into a smile as he threw open the sliding glass door and strode across the room to her.

“Dina!” He bellowed. He reached his arms around her waist and leaned back, lifting her into a tight hug as he spun them around causing Dina to burst out with laughter.

After a moment he set her down, steadying her with his hands on her shoulders as she swayed from dizziness.

“Jesus, Jessie. What happened?” She chuckled.

“I fucking got it, Dina.” He squeezed her shoulders. “That’s what happened.”

Dina’s eyes widened. “I fucking knew you would!”

She punched his shoulder excitedly, causing Jesse to rub at the spot.

“Hey now.” He joked, before growing serious. “It’s still just an internship. It’s not like they’re going to actually let me in the courtroom or anything anytime soon.”

“It’s a start!” She countered.

He grinned. “Yeah, the start of you and me making a difference.”

Dina snorted. “It’s the start of you making a difference, that’s for sure.” The corners of her lips turned up in a smile, but the sentiment didn’t reach her eyes.

“Dina, it’s both of us - “

She rolled her eyes. “Jesse,” She ended quickly, trying to hold back the bite in her voice. “Today is about you!” She tried again, her voice back to excitement, her face in a cheery mask. “So,” she claps her hands, “What are we doing to celebrate tonight then?” She waggles her eyebrows up and down excitedly.

“Dina…” He paused. “I really need to start prepping. There’s like a hundred years worth of case studies I need to memorize by Monday.”

“That’s days away!” She exclaimed. “Today,” She steps forward, placing her arms on his shoulders with a serious expression, “We need to _fucking_ celebrate.” She grins at him.

Jesse shook his head slightly, weighing his options, he took a deep breath and caught Dina’s eye, her smile forcing his resolve to fade away. “Fine. We’ll go out for a drink. One drink. That’s it.” He crossed his arms in an effort to be taken seriously.

Dina’s grin grew, beaming at him. “One drink.” She promised with a cheeky smile and 1 finger raised as she began walking backwards towards the bathroom. “Well now that you’ve seen reason, I need to get ready.” She tossed a quick smile over her shoulder as she spun around to continue on to the bathroom.

* * *

Dina stepped out of the apartment building and pulled her jacket tighter around her. Despite the years since she first moved to this city she still hadn’t grown used to these chilly Boston mornings. Still, even dealing with the cold this early in the season, Dina had an unusual bounce in her step as she headed off in the direction of work.

Not at all related to her now daily morning visit to the coffee shop. _Nope, not at all._

She had intended to check out the variety of coffee shops on her route when they moved into the neighborhood. On her first day of work she saw half a dozen cafes, and that was just the ones she passed directly on her way to work. Who knew how many lurked around corners and down side streets. That morning Dina had clutched tight to her travel mug with her home-brewed coffee and vowed to get to know her neighborhood a bit better.

The very next day happened to be the same day she stepped into the coffee shop with the lanky, red-headed barista. N _ot quite red-head. Auburn-head? Not that it matters._ Dina shook her head.

That, _for some reason_ , was still the only coffee shop she had visited so far, despite the fact that it had been more than a week since she started her morning trek.

After that first day she told herself she was only going back to see if that one douchebag customer was a regular there or not. A small part of her hoped she’d have the chance to put him in his place once more. Unfortunately she never saw him there again, but she still came back the day after. And the day after that.

Dina hadn’t intended to make a habit of it, she really hadn’t. She was trying to break out of the predictable routines she had gotten into at her last job and in their old apartment. She wanted to really get to know this neighborhood and actually enjoy her surroundings for once.

It just so happened she really enjoyed that one coffee shop.

 _They make really good tea_ , she thought to herself.

The sound of the welcome bell chimed as Dina stepped into the small café. As always, she was immediately greeted by the warm smell of brewing coffee, a smile plastered on her face as she inhaled deeply. The coffee did smell fantastic there, though she hadn’t actually tried it yet.

The little café was always busy this time of morning. A few customers sat at the small tables scattered about, furiously typing into their laptops as they sipped on their drinks. Most of the patrons though were clearly there for something to-go, grabbing something quick on their rush to work just like Dina. As she walked toward the line she scanned the area behind the counter, interested in who was working.

After a moment, the redheaded barista popped up into Dina’s line of sight. Her red, _auburn_ , hair was pulled back into a loose bun, a few stray hairs came loose around her ears. She was wearing a dark gray t-shirt with the already short sleeves rolled up slightly. Exposing toned arms and - _is that a tattoo?_ Dina’s eyes darted to the dark ink on her forearm.

 _I never noticed that_ , she thought to herself. She didn’t think she had seen the woman wearing short sleeves before, she definitely would have noticed that tattoo. The ink was dark, obvious against her pale skin. _Are those feathers?_ Dina’s eyes traced the intricate pattern wrapping around her arm, trying to figure out what the tattoo could be.

Her investigation was brought to an abrupt end when she walked directly into the person in front of her, causing the woman to jerk forward almost losing her balance.

“Shit. Sorry.” She mumbled, offering an apologetic look and a shrug to the woman in front of her.

The woman shook her head slightly. “It’s fine, no worries.” She answered as she turned back around, clearly not interested in whatever the clumsy woman behind her had to say.

 _Jesus, Dina, get a grip._ She took a deep breath and stared at the floor for a few moments, trying to quell the blush that had settled on her cheeks. After a beat she looked back up, scanning to see if anyone had seen her embarrass herself. To her dismay she made eye contact with one of the other baristas. The woman in question, who she could only respectfully describe as beefy, was a fair bit taller than Dina, with shoulders almost twice as broad as her own and arms to match. Abby, she thought she had heard the redheaded woman call her.

The woman smirked at her, an irritating look on her face, before turning her back to Dina apparently messing with one of the espresso machines behind the counter. Dina hadn’t really had any interaction with the taller woman apart from that first day. Even then Abby was focused on the asshole customer, only giving a slight nod in Dina’s direction once she had the man calmed down. Dina respected the way she had stepped in to deal with that guy, she had intended to thank her, but it seemed Abby was always helping another customer when Dina was at the counter.

It looked like today would be no different in that regard. Once Dina had gotten close to the counter, finally second in line, Abby quickly stepped in front of the redhead, playfully elbowing her in the side. She nodded back toward the espresso machine and said something to the lanky woman that Dina couldn’t hear before Abby turned to greet the customer in front of Dina.

Dina watched the redhead shake her head as she turned around. She crossed her arms and looked around at the various machines behind the counter, it didn’t really seem like she had a goal in mind. She stepped forward and hit a few buttons on one of the machines, causing absolutely nothing to happen. _What is she doing?_

Dina was briefly distracted by Abby pointing out the waiting area to the customer in front of her. As Abby turned around to face the coffee machines, Dina stepped forward and leaned her palms against the counter. She eyed the baristas pretending to work the machines in front of them. They shared a quick, terse conversation the dark-haired woman couldn’t hear. The redhead again shook her head, accompanied with an eye roll, as she turned back toward the counter.

As soon as she spotted Dina her broody expression turned into a smile.

“Dina.” She grinned

“Ellie.” Dina grinned back.

Ellie leaned forward, glancing between Dina and the register in front of her. “What can I get for you this morning? More of the same, eh?” She teased.

Dina shook her head, “Actually, I’m thinking of mixing things up.” She smirked.

“Oh really now?” Ellie’s eyebrows raised. “Alright. Hit me.” She leaned forward, a mock serious expression on her face.

Dina leaned in, mimicking the expression. “So. Instead of the usual,”

“Uh huh.”

“I am thinking of the usual, _except_ ” Dina emphasized. She paused to draw out the suspense, “with _chive_ cream cheese this time.” She leaned back, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

“Whoa.” Ellie breathed, leaning back as well.

“Is it too crazy?”

“Oh definitely.” Ellie nodded. “But I think you have to.” Her lips had pulled into a straight line. Serious.

Dina fought back a smile. “Oh I have to?”

“Yeah. For science.” She looked like she was fighting back a smile too.

“For science? Dina’s lips crooked to one side, a dead giveaway she was about to break.

“How else are we going to get to the cutting edge of flavor, Dina?” Ellie sighed with an exaggerated eye roll.

Dina cackled, she couldn’t help it. With a smile on her lips and no malice in her voice she said simply, “You’re an idiot.”

Ellie laughed heartily. “You’re lucky you’re a customer.” She grinned at Dina.

Dina just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Alright, so that’ll be one everything bagel with _chive_ cream cheese - ”

“For science.” Dina interjected.

“For science,” Ellie nodded, “and one Earl Grey tea with, and I quote,” she lifted her fingers to air-quote, “‘ _hella_ ’ honey.”

Dina beamed. “You’ve got an awful good memory over there.”

Ellie nodded as she tapped against the screen of the register, “Oh yeah.” She looked up and tapped the side of her head with her pointer finger, “Steal trap.” Her serious expression turned into a mirful grin. “Especially when you hear the same thing for like a week straight.”

Dina scoffed. “I changed it up today!” She crossed her arms. “You said it yourself, this is the cutting edge of flavor!” She exclaimed, a bit too close to a shout.

Ellie lifted her hands in a jokingly soothing fashion. “Alright, alright. Fine. You’re right. I shouldn’t question the science.”

Her smile was bright and warm, it made Dina smile back reflexively.

* * *

“Jesse, _come on_.” She groaned, pulling at his arm.

He was sitting at the small desk in the corner of their living room, his eyes scanning an old textbook. He sighed and glanced over at her, setting the book down. “Alright, alright. I’m done, see?” He flipped the book closed and pushed it away.

“Fucking finally,” she smiled, tugging him up to stand then pulling him toward the kitchen.

“Where are you taking me? I thought we were leaving?”

She glanced over her shoulder, his hand still in hers. “You think we’re going out to a bar in this city without pregaming?” She let his hand go and reached into one of the high cabinets to grab a handle of vodka. Turning back toward him she asked, “What, do you think I’m made of money.” She smiled as she leaned back against the counter.

Jesse’s face hardened. He crossed his arms. “What happened to one drink?”

She turned away from him, rolling her eyes, and grabbed a shot glass from the cabinet. “You can have one drink.” She replied, pouring a shot out.

She turned toward him and brought the shot glass to her lips, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

“I’m keeping my eye on you.” He glared.

“You always do.” She replied before downing the shot easily. “Now,” She eyed him seriously, “Let’s get out of here.”

They made their way out of the apartment and down to the street below. The small club Dina found wasn’t too far away, just a few blocks that way they wouldn’t have to take the T anywhere tonight. The entrance was tucked a few feet back into an alleyway. It wasn’t hidden, per se, but you could easily walk past the entrance without realizing.

Dina tugged Jesse’s arm, interlinked with hers, and nodded over to the entrance. She unlocked their arms and stepped up to the bouncer by the door, passing her ID to him. The bouncer nodded to her, allowing her to push the door open. She waited on the other side for Jesse who followed quickly after her.

She grabbed his hand and turned toward the interior, taking a quick survey of the club. There was a large bar bathed in a deep purple light right in the middle of the open space, several bartenders darted between dozens of customers. The area between them and the bar was all dance floor, too many people to count pressed together. The back of the club was raised above the rest, steps on either side of the bar led up to an area full of tables and booths. It looked completely packed up there, in fact it looked completely packed everywhere.

Jesse pulled her hand back so she would look at him. “This is your _one drink_ club?” He asked in disbelief.

“It didn’t sound this popular from the reviews,” She shrugged sheepishly

Jesse shook his head and took a deep breath.

 _This is not his scene,_ She thought regretfully to herself, a grimace on her face.

He smiled weakly at her. “Well why don’t we get that drink then?”

She offered a weak smile of her own in return and turned back to pull him along through the crowd.

It took way too long for the bartender to finally get to them. Jesse stood there looking entirely too out of place the whole time, fidgeting nervously with the edge of his shirt and the ends of his sleeves. Dina wished she had taken another shot or two before they left. When the bartender leaned over to talk to them, Jesse quickly cut him off and simply said, “Can we just have 2 rum and cokes please, doubles preferably.”

Dina looked over at him, “What happened to one drink?” She teased, parroting his question from before.

“You did.” He smiled, a bit forced.

They hung out at the bar for a while, conversation passing easily between them at it always did. Jesse chatted excited about his new job. He has landed a fairly prestigious internship position at a federal public defender in Boston. For now he’d be doing a lot of background research and paperwork to back up the attorneys who would actually be in the courtroom, but he hoped it would be a stepping stone to defending cases of his own. At the very least it would look great on his resume so he had said.

“I’m soooo proud ah’you,” Dina slurred, on about her third rum & coke at this point. She threw an arm awkwardly over his shoulder.

He grinned lazily back and tossed his own arm on her opposite shoulder. “I know y’are.” He slurred back, a content smile on his face.

Just as Dina was about to reply to him the song changed and Dina perked up.

“Oh _fuck_ yeah this is my _jam_.” She enthused, dragging Jesse along to the dance floor.

“You’re not gonna make me dance are ya?” Jesse groaned, following along hopelessly.

Dina looked over her shoulder at him. _The dread really is cute_ , she thought to herself. Once they made it to a relatively open area, Dina turned around and smiled at him.

“It’s a fast song, all ya have to do is jump.” She demonstrated, bouncing on the balls of her feet and shimmying her shoulders up and down.

She laughed as Jessie tried to mimic her. She grabbed his hands and pulled them over his head, dragging them closer in the process.

She grinned toothily at him and kept bouncing, trying to encourage him to join in.

He tried a few times, completely off beat, before giving up and laughing at himself.

“Ya know I’m useless at this.” He laughed, out of breath.

Dina kept bouncing around him. “Totally useless,” she agreed, laughing.

They continued like that for a while, Dina egging Jesse on and Jesse embarrassing himself all in good spirit. After some time Jesse sighed and declared he needed another drink, Dina followed him to the bar. She scanned the upper area, looking for a place they could hang out for a while. Spotting an empty table right by the stairs, Dina jammed a thumb in its direction and told Jesse to meet her over there.

She plopped down at the table, totally exhausted, not having danced like that since they moved in. Her clothes were sweaty and clung to her uncomfortably, no matter how much she fanned herself. She scanned the room, still drunkenly bopping along with the music. Down at the edge of the bar there was a familiar flash of red. _Auburn_. Dina’s body turned on its own accord forcing her to turn toward the redheaded barista.

The woman, _Ellie_ , was facing away from Dina. She had one hand on the waist of a shorter, dark-haired woman in front of her. They were both leaning against the bar and leaning slightly into each other.

Dina watched as Ellie leaned in a bit closer to her, whispering something right by her ear. The other woman threw her head back in laughter. She watched as Ellie moved closer, her hand shifting to circle around the other woman’s back. She watched as they locked eyes, unable to look away when they leaned in, lips moving slowly against each other.

Dina exhaled shakily, silently berating herself for not being able to move her eyes away, desperately wishing the aching in the pit of her stomach to disappear. _Of course it had to be her. Stupid cute barista. Of course_. Dina shook her head. She balled her hands into fists. She rolled her eyes at herself. Still, her eyes returned to the two women by the bar, arms wrapped tightly around each other.

Dina didn’t notice when Jesse slid into the booth across from her, setting a drink down in front of her as he went.

“You alright?” He nudged her shin lightly with his foot. His face scrunched in confusion.

She looked up meeting his gaze, “Of course.” Her lips curled up, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Just waiting for you.”

He grinned.

She downed her drink.


	3. Chapter 3

Ellie always hated how packed this club was. As soon as they made it past the bouncer she scanned the enormous room, sighing at the sight of hundreds of sweaty bodies writhing together to a song she wasn’t yet drunk enough to enjoy. No matter where they were headed she knew they were going to have to trudge through the mass of people mobbing the dance floor. 

She looked over, elbowing Cat to get her attention, once their eyes met she nodded toward the center of the large room. In the center of the floor was the club’s bar bathed in a deep purple light, her personal north star for the night. She steeled herself and took Cat’s hand, pulling her along as she began the delicate work of maneuvering through the dance floor.

Ellie nodded tight-lipped smiles to passersby as she shimmied her lanky limbs through the crowds of people. As they passed by a large group of rowdy dudes bouncing along to the beat, one of the men jumped backwards and slammed into Ellie, sending her tumbling a few feet back into a couple who was locked in a far too heated embrace. With a disgusted look on her face, Ellie pushed herself off the couple and made for the guy who knocked into her.

Cat just grabbed her arm and mouthed, “Not worth it.” 

Ellie allowed Cat to lead her the rest of the way through the crowd. When they finally reached the edge of it Cat yanked Ellie through after her, both of them locking eyes with exasperated expressions.

“A drink then?” Ellie asked, turning away, not waiting for an answer as she strolled off in the direction of drinks.

They found a relatively clear place at the edge of the bar nearby a set of stairs that led up to the upper level where most of the tables were. Ellie leaned against the bar and watched as Cat mirrored her position.

Cat’s lips started moving, but the sound was drowned out by the thumping music. Ellie squinted her eyes at Cat’s lips, trying to make sense of the movement but she was picking up absolutely nothing. Cat’s lips turned into a smile at Ellie’s completely lost face.

“What did you say?” Ellie shouted over the music, cupping her hands around her mouth and leaning toward her. 

Cat leaned closer, “I was just saying I’m glad we came out tonight.”

Ellie nodded, only hearing about every other word but getting the gist, “Yeah,” she offered absentmindedly. 

Cat continued, not taking note of Ellie’s indifference, she leaned in further, her eyes narrowed as she smirked at Ellie. She scanned Ellie up and down, pausing at her lips before settling on Ellie’s green eyes. 

Ellie gulped, but tried to play it off. She leaned in, meeting Cat’s teasing expression and settled her hand on Cat’s waist.

Cat spoke first, “Have I ever told you how hot you look in this top?” She purred, pulling at the collar of Ellie’s maroon button down with her free hand.

Ellie inhaled sharply. She pulled her bottom lip in, biting on the edge slightly. She leaned in, her voice low and shaky in Cat’s ear, “If I knew you just wanted to eye fuck me we could’ve stayed home and made this a whole lot easier.”

Cat threw her head back and laughed heartily. “If I knew you were going to look this hot I wouldn’t have planned a night out.” 

Ellie wrapped her arm around Cat’s waist, pulling her in close. She eyed Cat for a moment, green eyes darting between deep brown eyes and soft lips, before leaning down to capture those soft lips in a slow kiss. They moved closer, closing the miniscule gap that had existed between them.

Ellie suddenly felt eyes on her, burning into her back. She was, unfortunately, used to being watched like that and knew it was probably just some douchey guy checking them out, that was usually the case anyway. She forced herself to ignore the sensation of eyes on her, instead leaning deeper into Cat, focusing on the feeling of her lips on hers. 

The feeling didn’t go away. She swore there were eyes on her all night, but she could never find the source, always seeming to dart away the moment Ellie turned around. 

* * *

The next morning found Ellie at the coffee shop, busy on the Friday morning. She was glad they had cut last night short, having a hangover at the coffee shop was bad enough, having a hangover and dealing with customers passing out ‘TGIFs’ and ‘Happy Fridays’ is enough to drive anyone close to murder. 

It didn’t drive her crazy coming from that one customer though. The week before, after watching Ellie’s eye twitch each time a customer wished her a ‘Happy Friday’, Dina had sauntered up to the counter with a wry smile. The very first thing she said, in the most exaggeratedly upbeat voice, was “ _Thank God it’s Friday_!” Her grin had only grown at the sound of Ellie’s defeated groan.

 _Always trying to get a rise out of me._ Ellie glanced at the clock and furrowed her brows. It was almost 9, Dina was always there around 8:30, at least she had been the last week or two.

She felt an elbow nudge lightly into her side. “Whatcha waiting for, huh?” Abby asked, a shiteating grin stretched across her face, “Got a hot date or something?” 

Ellie turned to glare at her, “Nope. Just checking to see how much longer I have to deal with your annoying ass today.” 

Abby eyed her, almost ready to leave it, that was until the front door open chime went off and Ellie’s eyes immediately darted to the door. Abby just shook her head and laughed under her breath.

“Sure, you were.” She mumbled as she walked away.

Ellie rolled her eyes in an effort to look nonchalant. But, her gaze did immediately settle on the short, dark-haired woman who had just joined the back of the line. _Dina._

Dina looked worse for wear. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, dark circles pooled under her eyes, she didn’t usually wear much makeup, but today she was wearing none at all. She was wearing leggings and had a big fluffy coat pulled over her top. Her sunglasses were still on, even inside.

A small, sympathetic smile fell on Ellie’s lips. _Oh she’s so hungover._ She tried to focus on work, on the customers in front of her, but every so often her eyes fell back on Dina. The short woman looked absolutely miserable. She kept rubbing her temples and squinting her eyes as she tried, fruitlessly, to block out the florescent lights with her hands. About halfway to the front of the line she gave up on blocking the light with her hands and instead buried her head into the collar of her coat.

Ellie grinned for a moment before catching herself. She shook her head and turned back to make the next coffee. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Abby’s stupid smirk. She inhaled deeply and ignored the eyes on her. 

_Focus_. 

A few minutes passed before Abby caught her attention again. “Hey,” Abby called over to her, already walking toward the back, “I need to grab something I’ll be right back.” 

Ellie shook her head and mumbled to herself, “Lazy ass.”

When she looked up to greet the next customer, Ellie was met with the pained expression of one hungover Dina, her distress poorly hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

She briefly thought about being kind before she remembered the previous Friday and a wicked grin settled on her lips. “ **Good morning, Dina!** ” Ellie bellowed at her, leaning forward as she spoke.

Dina’s face scrunched up, her shoulders tightened as she curled away from the grating voice. “Oh _fuck_ you.” Dina spat as forcefully as she could manage. She rubbed at her forehead, over her eyes and temples. With one eye scrunched closed, she wearily opened the other. She made eye contact with Ellie’s mocking face. “Can I get a little sympathy?” She grumbled weakly, not able to open the other eye.

Ellie’s face softened slightly, a subtle smirk still playing on her lips. “I s'pose.” She offered, soft.

Dina’s whole body relaxed. She leaned forward on the counter like she often did, but this time she laid her forearms down instead of just her palms. She rested heavily on her arms, her head hanging for a moment. 

She looked up, trying to keep both eyes open as she looked vaguely at Ellie, only managing a combination of squinting and rapid blinking. Her voice rasped, “I need some fucking coffee.” 

Ellie smiled sympathetically, “Any cream or sugar or anything?” 

Dina just shook her head, “I really don’t care,” She grimaced, “I just need _something_.”

Ellie laughed lightly to herself. “Go sit down there,” She nodded at one of the barstools at the other end of the long counter, “I’ll be over in a minute.”

Dina smiled, it was weak, but thankful. With a nod she meandered her way across the room.

Abby appeared from the hallway with a couple fresh sleeves of cups in each hand. 

“Hey Abbs,” Ellie approached her, a puzzled expression on her face, “You like coffee?” She eyed her, waiting for an answer. When none came she continued, “If you were hungover, would you want cream and sugar?” 

Abby rolled her eyes. She looked down at the other end of the counter at the miserable patron sitting alone at a barstool. With a shake of her head she replied, “That girl just needs caffeine. I’d bring it black.” 

Ellie nodded, moving to fix the coffee.

“And don’t worry, you can take your time. I’ll take care of the other customers.” 

Ellie could hear the smirk in Abby’s voice. She didn’t bother turning around.

Down at the end of the counter, Dina was perched on one of the barstools half leaning against the wall, still curling her face into the collar of her jacket. Ellie set the to-go cup in front of her, startling Dina slightly. 

“You alright?” She asked in a soft voice.

Dina peeked one weary eye out from her jacket, her face pulled together tightly to shut out as much light as possible.

“I am not.” She answered in a weak voice, rubbing her half-open eye as she spoke.

Ellie chuckled to herself. “Yeah, you look like shit.” She joked with a crooked smile.

Dina shot her as much of a look as she could manage. She reached out and grabbed the coffee, bringing it close to her chest. “Your customer service is just terrible.”

Ellie shrugged, a smile still on her face, “So they tell me.” She slouched onto the counter in front of her, resting her chin in her palm. “So what caused this, uh,” Ellie gestured vaguely toward the lump of distress sat across from her, “look?” 

Dina pulled her jacket around her tighter with her free hand. “Again, customer service.” Ellie could see one half of a smirk and a single raised eyebrow on her face. Dina shuffled in her seat, “I was _celebrating_ ,” the sarcastic tone familiar to Ellie, “my, uh,” she paused for a moment, rubbing at her arm. She looked up at Ellie, brows pulled down, lips tight, eyes unreadable. She shook her head minutely to herself, “It was a weird night.” 

Ellie eyed her curiously and considered pressing for details, but instead she settled on, “Well you are a weird person.” 

Dina rolled her eyes. Ellie thought she saw a relieved smile on her face. She took another long sip of her coffee and glanced at the clock behind Ellie. “Shit.” She stood up abruptly “Fuck _._ _Fuck._ I knew I was late, but _fuck._ ” She grabbed her things and patted her pockets frantically, with much more energy than Ellie thought the hungover woman would be capable of.

Ellie just watched with an amused smile. 

After one final check of her front pockets Dina looked at Ellie, “Well thanks for the coffee, freckles.” Then she turned and walked out of the coffee shop, leaving no time for a response.

Ellie stood there, arms crossed, lips turned down.

“Freckles?”

* * *

Hours later she somehow found herself in another fucking bar. This time at least an actual bar, not another club like the night before.

Ellie swore she wasn’t going to go out another night in a row. She didn’t even like going out that much. But, not having work the next day, there wasn’t much of an excuse when Cat came to her with pleading eyes.

“I just want to see a few friends.” She said.

“A few people from the shop are playing tonight.” She added.

“We’ll go home after a few drinks.” She promised.

_Well that was a lie._

Ellie leaned against the bar as she cradled her 3rd whiskey and watched as Cat laughed easily with her friends. They had all been together among the crowd gathered near the stage in a dingy corner of the bar. 

Cat made eye contact with Ellie and tried to wave her over.

Ellie just lifted her drink in response.

Cat rolled her eyes and made her way through the crowd.

“You’ve been avoiding us all night.” Cat raised her eyebrows, standing in front of Ellie with her arms crossed.

Ellie took a sip of her whiskey. “I’ve been enjoying myself over here,” She panned to the bar around her. 

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true!” She gestured to the scruffy looking man a few stools down, “Me and the old timer have been getting along just dandy.” She lifted her glass in his direction.

He lifted his glass back and grunted quietly in response, a confused expression on his face.

“See!”

Cat just glared. “Ellie, c’mon.” She pulled lightly at Ellie’s free hand. “Just come hang out for a little bit.” 

Ellie took a deep breath and sighed. She quickly downed her drink, and set it roughly down on the bar. 

“Let’s go.” She answered with a huff.

They made their way across the floor, over to the spot near the front of the stage where the three tattoo shop buddies stood around. 

Cat dragged Ellie by her hand over to the group. Ellie nodded amicably to them.

“Look who I found!” Cat cheered, lifting Ellie’s hand up in the air.

“Good to see you, Ellie!” Ian yelled, drunkenly clapping Ellie’s shoulder.

Ellie stumbled from the impact before righting herself. She carefully plucked his arm by his sleeve and dropped it off to her shoulder. “You too, Ian, you too.” She mumbled, leaning into Cat’s side.

“So are you excited about tonight?” Andie chimed in.

“Excited?” Ellie cast a glance at Cat. She just saw the end of the tense glare she had shot towards Andie.

Andie’s eyes were wide as she answered, “Uh, yeah. Y’know about the open mic performers?” She shuffled in place. “I hear there’s a few good ones.”

Ellie’s jaw set, she didn’t have a good feeling about that look. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t really know who's playing tonight.”

As if on cue, the MC called out cheerily over the crowd, “Alright folks! Are we ready for the next set?!” He shouted into a crowd of steady applause. “Up next is a first timer! The one, the only, Ellie Williams!” 

The cheers of the crowd grew louder. The group around her grew dead quiet in contrast. Ellie looked at Cat with raised eyebrows and cold eyes. The corner of Cat’s lips turned up in an uncomfortable smile, with a timid shrug she mumbled, “Surprise?”

Ellie just shook her head, eyes finally falling from Cat’s, lips downtrodden. “I can’t believe you thought this was a good idea.” She looked back up to Cat, a pained expression on her face.

“Your guitar is by the stage . . . “ Cat gestured to the back corner, her face scrunched up in guilt, but still hopeful.

The audience had grown quieter as they looked around for the next performer, eyes started falling on her.

“This was _fucked_.” She spat out at Cat. 

Ellie stormed toward the stage. She waved off the MC clapping at her and gestured to the guitar case in the back. He shot her a confused expression, but passed the case across to her. 

She grabbed it with a nod and turned, rushing through the crowd. She completely ignored Cat and her friends, clutching the guitar to her as she went. Vaguely hearing the MC’s voice ring out, “Well there was Ellie Williams! Uh - who’s up next?”

With a shove, she burst through the bar’s front door, spilling onto the main street. As she trudged toward her apartment, she heard Cat’s voice calling out to her.

“Ellie c’mon!” She yelled out. Ellie turned to face her, but kept shuffling backward. Cat continued “Don’t fucking go! C’mon you know you can do this.” Her eyes bore into Ellie’s, willing her to come back.

Ellie just shook her head. 

She turned her back to Cat and began jogging away, still clutching her guitar close.

“Stupid Cat.” She mumbled. _Always thinks she knows best._

Drunker than she had realized, she stumbled her way back to the apartment. After a block or two she slung the guitar case over her shoulder, needing the additional hand free to steady herself.

Wandering up to the apartment door she rambled to herself, “I can decide when I want to play for myself, thank you very much.” 

She leaned heavily against the door, struggling with the lock. She tried it once, twice, three times. No luck. She closed one eye and squinted through the other as she peered between the key and the lock again and again. She carefully lined them up and slowly started to ease the key in. Coming up against resistance immediately, she threw her head back and released a deep groan. 

“Oh come on!” She shouted to the empty street.

It was the wrong key.

After a few more minutes of struggling, she eventually managed to find the correct key and unlock the front door. And then of course, a few more minutes for her to find the right key for her unit’s door.

With a heavy sigh, she plopped herself onto the couch in the middle of the front room.

“Fucking Cat.” She exhaled. Her arms were crossed. She glared at the ceiling for a minute, wallowing in indignation. 

She glanced over at the guitar case perched against the arm of the couch and worried at her lip. After a moment she yanked the case onto her lap and with a familiar motion she unclipped the case and pulled the guitar out, setting the case off to the side once empty.

She settled the guitar on her lap, fingers quickly finding purchase on the fret and hovering over the soundhole. Absentmindedly she strummed some familiar chords, not really paying any mind to what she played.

After some time her fingers found their way to a well-worn melody. Ellie nodded along as the notes came easily. It was a slow, somber melody she had tweaked for herself, modifying the original song to better suit a solo acoustic guitar. With it being primarily instrumental, just two slow verses followed by two slow choruses, her guitar carried the song. 

When the first verse came she sang along, her voice soft and slow, taking great care of each word:

_I'm left and right and in between_

_I am laying low on the ceiling_

_A floating stone in the sea of things I've seen_

_Running somewhere while this city runs through me_

* * *

Ellie had awoken groggily the next morning, still on the couch and in her clothes from last night. She sat upright and rubbed at her eyes, sleep settled in firmly. The apartment was noticeably quiet, everything still just the way she left it last night. _Cat clearly didn’t come home then._

She really didn’t want to sit at home all day _stewing._ So, begrudgingly, she texted the coffee shop manager early that morning looking for an open shift. _There’s always an open shift._

When Ellie arrived at the shop it was uncharacteristically quiet. The weekends were usually slower than her weekday morning shifts, but not this slow. There had only ever been a couple customers in the shop at any one time all day. Normally that’d be something to celebrate, but with the crick in her neck and deep circles under her eyes, Ellie was just relishing in the peace and quiet. 

She enjoyed the fact that she didn’t know the weekend workers too well, since that meant they had mostly kept to themselves while she kept busy tidying up around the place. She let the mundane repetitive actions act as some meditation practice, trying not to let her mind wander too much. She was in a rhythm when a jovial voice brought her back to work.

“Fancy seeing you here.” 

Ellie turned to meet the smiling face of Dina, her elbows resting lightly on the counter.

Ellie’s expression settled into a weak grin, her voice sounder more hoarse than she would have liked, “So you’re a weekend customer too then?” 

Dina eye Ellie with furrowed brows, she noted the dark circles, the messy hair, the groggy expression. She teetered her head back and forth, seemingly weighing her response. “Today I am. Looks like you shouldn’t be a weekend worker today though?” 

Ellie shrugged and ignored the implied question. She slid up to the counter, “So, what’ll it be on this weekend day? And you’re not allowed the usual.” She added, a finger jabbed at Dina.

Dina smiled, she glanced up at the chalkboard menu behind Ellie, “You guys have like sammies right?” Her eyes scanned the menu.

“Sammies?” Ellie asked, the corner of her lips raised.

Dina’s eyes shot down. “Yeah, Ellie. Sammies.” She crossed her arms defensively. An easy smile settling on her lips. “What’s the question here?”

Ellie shook her head with a grin. “Oh no question at all.” She looked over her shoulder at the board behind her. “We have a lot of _sammies_.” She emphasized.

Dina raised one eyebrow.

Ellie met her eyes, a crooked smile on her lips, “For some reason though, you’re only going to find them under _sandwiches_. I dunno must be a regional thing.”

“You are so lucky you look pitiful right now.” 

“Hey! I do not look - “ Ellie looked up as the front door bell rang, her sentence abruptly cut short and her shoulders fell as her eyes landed on the figure of Cat in the doorway. 

Dina’s head jerked back to follow Ellie’s gaze. To Ellie’s surprise, Dina seemed to freeze in place, Ellie couldn’t make out her expression, but she could see her jaw moving as Dina appeared to grind her teeth.

Dina looked back, looking past Ellie to the menu behind her, a perplexing look on her face. She quickly ordered, “a Classic Breakfast sandwich and an Earl Grey tea,” and only offered a tight-lipped smile when Ellie asked if she still wanted “hella honey.” 

Confused, but not wanting to pry, Ellie rang her up in silence, then nodded to the far side of the counter, “I’ll bring everything over in a minute.”

Dina glanced over her shoulder then gave a small, “Thank you,” as she made her way down the counter.

As soon as Dina was gone, Cat was there leaning casually against the counter pretending to scan the menu.

When Ellie fixed her with a hard glare and crossed arms, Cat tried to lighten things with an amicable smile.

“You don’t look as bad as I would have thought.” Cat joked.

Ellie didn’t bite. “What do you want, Cat?” 

Cat’s face fell slightly before she reaffixed the smile to her lips, “I just wanted to apologize for last night - I shouldn’t have - “ 

“- I don’t want to do this here.” Ellie rubbed at her eyebrow.

“Do what, Ellie?” Cat crossed her arms.

She rolled her eyes, “Have this same damn conversation, Cat.” 

Cat’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I was just trying to help.”

Ellie shook her head. She turned to grab the attention of one of the other baristas and mouthed “ _I’ll be right back.”_

Grabbing her coat and without a glance behind her, Ellie marched outside. She leaned against the glass storefront and buried her hand into the deep coat pocket. After a moment, she fished out an old carton of cigarettes and quickly slipped one between her lips. 

She began patting at her pockets, desperate for a lighter, but it had been quite a while since the last time she lit up a cigarette. The lighter could be anywhere by now. As she was digging through one of the interior pockets she never bothered to use, a silver zippo was suddenly thrust into her view. 

She looked up and made eye contact with Cat, a foot or two away, stoic look on her face with her hand extended to offer the lighter.

Ellie nodded a silent thanks as she accepted it, quickly flicking it to life. She inhaled deeply as she brought the flame up. 

“You know I don’t need your help.” Ellie exhaled, passing the lighter back.

“I know.” Cat murmured, puffing on a cigarette of her own. 

Ellie turned to face her, her should still leaning on the glass, “And you know I really fucking hate surprises.”

“I know.”

“Then what the fuck, Cat?”

Cat sighed deeply, her chest visibly rising and falling with the effort. Her head lulled to the side as she looked at Ellie out of the corner of her eye.

“I just thought if you got up there once . . . “ She trailed off.

“I don’t need your help, Cat.”

Cat nodded, jaw clenched. 

After a moment she asked, “I’ll see you for dinner, then?” 

Ellie took a long drag. She exhaled as she spoke, “I’m not sure.”

Cat clicked her tongue in acknowledgement. “I’ll see you later then, El.” She pushed up off the glass storefront and playfully nudged Ellie’s shoulder before heading off in the direction of their apartment.

Ellie spent a few minutes finishing off the first cigarette she had in months. Regretting the decision to smoke it almost as soon as she was done. 

“Fucking Cat,” Ellie muttered to herself as she flicked the cigarette butt into a nearby trashcan, “Always ruining my personal bests.” 

Ellie huffed as she made her way back into the coffee shop. She nodded a thank you to the other barista though it didn’t look like anyone else had actually come in since she left. Dina was still at the far end of the counter, though now she sat quietly munching on her mostly-gone breakfast.

Ellie put up her coat and meandered her way over. 

“You know those things are terrible for you.” Dina fixed her with a glare as soon as Ellie arrived.

“Watching me now, are you?” Ellie slid up to the counter as she spoke.

“I could smell you as soon as you walked in.” 

“You didn’t answer the question.”

She took a mouth-filling bite of her sandwich and nodded in the direction of the storefront, “Lover’s quarrel?”

“You know they tell people they shouldn’t speak with their mouthful.” 

“You didn’t answer the question,” Dina mimicked, mouth still full.

Ellie shook her head with a laugh, “Unbelievable,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that freckles?”

“How’s your sandwich?” She asked with a mirthful grin.

Dina gave her a wicked smile right back, “Better than that fight you had.”

Ellie rubbed at the back of her neck. “Wasn’t a fight.” She murmured unconvincingly.

“Sure it wasn’t.” 

Ellie looked at Dina with tired eyes and worried on her bottom lip. She shook her head slightly, “It was just some bullshit.”

Dina held her gaze, her eyes narrowed, “Give me your phone.” 

“What?” Ellie asked, though she was already grabbing the phone from her back pocket.

Dina ignored her as she fiddled around with it for a moment. She pulled out her own phone and messed with it for a moment. Then she looked at Ellie, her arm extended handing Ellie’s phone back to her, “Here.”

Ellie snatched her phone back before narrowing her eyes, “What did you do?”

Dina just shrugged as she stood up, “I dunno. Guess you’ll find out!”

Hours later, while on her break Ellie saw a text from a contact she didn’t recognize.

_Your Favorite Customer: Kinda looked like you could use some hair of the dog after that little lover’s quarrel._

Ellie smiled at the phone as she read the contact name. _Dina._ Her smile quickly faded to a look of confusion as she stared at the words on the screen. _Is she trying to invite me for a drink? That’s normal on a Saturday, right?_

_Ellie: Who is this? I definitely don’t have a favorite customer._

_Your Favorite Customer: Wow freckles, I really am going to have to get them to fire you, huh?_

_Ellie: New phone who dis?_

_Your Favorite Customer: Oh fuck you_

Ellie grinned at her phone.

_Your Favorite Customer: You’re very bad at answering questions._

_Ellie: You’re very bad at asking them._

_Your Favorite Customer: …_

_Ellie: My liver is going to kill me, but I s’pose I could use a drink_

_Your Favorite Customer: :)_

Ellie clicked off the screen and pushed the phone away.

_This is a bad idea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Ellie plays is 'Islands' by Lewis Del Mar (wink wink)


End file.
